A  Correspondence  School  in 
Municipal  Accounting 
and  Reporting 
Founded  by  Herman  A.  Metz 

To  be  conducted  by  the  directors  of  the 
New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research 


Ex-Comptroller  Herman  A.  Metz 
has  written  from  his  branch  factory  in  ** 
Hamburg,  Germany,  that  he  has  de¬ 
cided  to  establish  a  fund  of  $10,000  a 
year  for  three  years  “to  make  avail¬ 
able  to  American  cities  the  best  prin¬ 
ciples  and  practice  worked  out  in  mu¬ 
nicipal  accounting  and  reporting.” 
The  fund  is  to  be  administered  by  the 
directors  of  the  New  York  Bureau  of 
Municipal  Research.  Comptroller 
Prendergast  has  assured  the  heartiest 
co-operation  by  New  York  City’s  de¬ 
partment  of  finance. 

Before  informing  the  Bureau  of  his 
decision,  Mr.  Metz  wrote  to  a  number 
of  city  comptrollers,  asking  for  their 
advice  as  to  making  the  fund  of  great¬ 
est  service.  Following  is  a  copy  of  his 


O.S\ 

letter  to  Alonzo  Tweedale,  president 
of  the  American  Society  of  Comp¬ 
trollers  and  auditor  of  the  District 
of  Columbia: 

“During  my  present  trip  on  this 
side  of  the  ocean,  I  have  been  im¬ 
pressed  by  the  fact  that,  in  Germany 
especially,  the  uniformity  of  account¬ 
ing  methods  among  the  larger  cities 
gives  a  much  better  basis  for  compar¬ 
ison  as  to  cost  of  administration,  main¬ 
tenance,  etc.,  than  we  have  at  home. 
As  even  under  our  various  systems 
of  administration  of  municipal  affairs, 
all  our  cities  are  dependent  upon  their 
ability  to  float  their  bonds,  and  appar¬ 
ently  in  ever  increasing  amounts,  it 
would  seem  only  natural  that  bond 
buyers  should  have  a  means  of  as¬ 
certaining  what  financial  and  account¬ 
ing  methods  are  in  force  in  the  re¬ 
spective  cities  and  be  able  to  make 
comparison  as  to  credit  ability,  based 
on  something  more  than  a  general 
legal  provision  as  to  borrowing  ca¬ 
pacity. 

“I  am  writing  you  therefore  to  ask 
your  personal  and  official  co-opera¬ 
tion  in  some  educational  work  in 
which  we  both  have  an  interest,  and 
to  apprise  you  of  my  purpose  to  pro¬ 
vide  a  fund  of  $10,000  a  year  for  three 
years  to  make  available  to  American 
cities  the  best  principles  and  practice 
worked  out  in  municipal  accounting 
and  reporting. 

“The  fund  is  to  be  administered  by 
the  directors  of  the  New  York  Bureau 
of  Municipal  Research.  But  having 
in  mind  its  national  application  through 
the  co-operation  of  various  comp¬ 
trollers,  I  am  keeping  it  as  a  separate 
fund.  While  it  is  obvious  that  the 
$10,000  will  not  reorganize  the  ac- 


f BUDGET  EXHIBITJUY  BE  SHOWN 

Id<tf  la  Approved  by  Civic  Commission  President, 
y  Comptroller  Morrow  and  Others 

INSTRUCTIVE  TO  THE  PUBLIC 

Good  Results  from  the  Display  of  Two  Years 
Said  to  Justify  Holding  Another 

A  “budget  exhibit”  may  be  held  In  Pittsburgh  in 
the  autumn.  The  city  budget  conference  will  take 
early  action  toward  considering  the  municipal  appro¬ 
priations  of  1911  and  at  the  meetings  the  project  to 
hold  a  budget  exhibit  will  be  discussed.  •  •  • 

“I  am  in  favor  of  a  budget  exhibit,”  said  H.D.W. 
English,  president  of  the  Pittsburgh  Civic  Commis¬ 
sion.  “I  think  it  is  a  splendid  Idea.”  . . . 

Oliver  McClintock  said,  •‘The  exhibit  will  arouse 
the  interest  of  the  public  in  this  important  phase  of 
municipal  activity  and  lead  the  taxpayers  to  study 
the  city’s  needs  and  expenditures.” 

“It  would  be  a  good  idea  to  have  a  budget  exhibit,  ” 
said  Comptroller  Morrow.  “I  believe  directors  of 
departments  would  approve  it.  My  last  report  is 
made  out  on  the  plan  followed  in  the  preparation  of 
the  government’s  accounts,  a  plan  illustrated  in  the 
civic  exhibit  shown  here.  The  civic  commission  now 
has  a  man  who  is  going  through  the  books  in  my  of* 
f  ice,  and  his  report  to  the  commission  ought  soon  to 
be  ready,  . . . 

“Superintendent  J.  P.  Edwards  of  the  bureau  of 
infectious  diseases  could  furnish  interesting  and  in¬ 
structive  data.  .  Director  E.  R,  Walters  of  the  de¬ 
partment  of  public  health  has  many  good  executed 
ideas  which  the  public  ought  to  know.  The  budget 
might  show  some  things  in  which  the  municipality  is 
yet  deficient,  but  it  would  show  many  things  in  which 
Pittsburgh  is  efficient.”  -  Pittsburgh  Gj{eit  Times 

Efficient  Citizenship  No.  864 
I UREAU  OF  MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH,  N.Y. 


CITY  WORK  IN  PARADE 

At  the  monthly  conference  of  department  heads 
at  city  hall,  plans  were  discussed  for  the  Boston  1915 
parade  of  men  and  floats  representing1  city  depart¬ 
ments.  (The  majority  of  department  heads  were 
in  favor  of  the  plans)  and  pointed  out  the  progress 
they  had  made  in  preparation  by  stating  what  they 
1^  expected  to  exhibit.  -  Boston  Herald 


MUNICIPAL  EXHIBITS 
.. There canba  little q i-3*fc?o s of  the  value  of  munici¬ 
pal  exhibits.  In  the  modem  effort  to  secure  reform 
in  municipal  administration  by  developing  a  direct 
and  intelligent  individual  interest  in  the  various  com¬ 
munal  functions,  it  has  been  found  that  appeal 
through  the  eye  is  Quite  as  convincing  as  the  appeal 
through  the  ear.  In  Nov/  York  the  Bureau  of  Mun¬ 
icipal  Research  has  done  some  of  its  most  effective 
work  in  its  departmental  exhibits  in  connection  with 
budget  discussions,  and  preparations  a-e  now  being 
made  for  a  still  more  extensive  display  another  year 
(by  city  officials  themselves).  . . . 

These  exhibits  of  municipal  administration  might 
profitably  be  made  annual  features,  ...  In  fact.  it 
would  be  possible  to  make  su'*h  an  exposition  a  cotv 
densed  course  in  g  *nera!^and  ap pi i eel _  ci tin c nx h. 
which  would  do  very  much  toward  making  a  more  in¬ 
telligent  electorate  and  consequently  a  more  ^effi¬ 
cient  government.  . .  The  educational  possibilities  of 
such  a  scheme  are  great  and  the  beginnings  of  all  ef¬ 
fective  reform  must  lie  in  the  education  ox  toe  indi¬ 
vidual  citizen  and  his  inspiration  to  work  icr  the  h  :g^- 
est  standard  of  government.  -  Boston  Ev'g  Herald 

hip  No.  366 

PAL  RESEARCH,  N.  Y. 


THE  WRONG  FOCUS 

•‘About  this  time,”  says  the  Municipal  Almanac 
“watch  for  the  tax-rate/*  . . . 

In  the  average  community  the  tax-rate  is  the 
centre  of  interest  in  municipal  administration.  . . . 

The  work  of  the  mayor  and  city  council  in  deter¬ 
mining  the  amount  of  tax  to  be  as  sessed  on  the  com¬ 
munity  in  their  budget  making  early  in  the  year  is  i 
practically  neglected  by  the  public  while  great  inter¬ 
est  is  shown  in  the  work  of  the  assessors  in  spring 
and  summer  in  the  determination  of  the  rate.  .  . . 

Budget  making,  the  discussion  of  appropriations 
and  the  planning  of  municipal  enterprise,  is  the  point 
on  which  public  interest  in  municipal  finance  proper¬ 
ly  should  focus.  But  a  baker's  dozen  of  citizens,  and- 
those  net  representing  the  largest  tax-paying  inter¬ 
ests ’of  the  city,  attending  a  hearing  before  the  city 
council  on  the  question  of  the  annual  appropriation 
bill  contrasts  with  general  interest  in  and  inquiry  for 
the  announcement  of  the  completion  of  the  assessors' 
ta3k  and  the  declaration  of  the  tax-rate.  The  city 
council,  voting  its  budget  for  the  year,  determines 
the  tax  which  is  to  be  assessed  on  the  community; 
the  assessors  merely  determine  the  rate.  Jt  ea3rs 
the  burden  none,  and  often  works  injustice  if  a  lo.v 
tax -rate  requires  an  abnormally  high  valuation, 
which  is  the  natural  tendency  resulting  from  this 
wrong  focus.  Even  if  the  tax-rate  Boston  shon'd 
be  reduced  twenty  cents  this  year,  it  still  would  be 
less  important  for  consideration  than  the  tact  that 
Boston  exceeds  all  the  large  cities  of  the  country  in 

the  per-capita  expenditure  for  government. 

-  Boston  Herald 
«• 

Efficient  Citiz 

i 

BUREAU  OF  MUN: 


counts  of  all  American  cities,  it  should, 
however,  be  sufficient  to  make  avail¬ 
able  to  all  cities  the  results  of  the  ex¬ 
perience  which  is  being  acquired  in 
each.  For  example,  New  York  City 
has  spent  for  the  last  several  years 
past,  thousands  of  dollars  in  working 
out  principles  and  in  demonstrating 
the  practical  application  of  accounting 
methods  to  municipal  business.  A 
good  deal  of  progress  was  made  dur¬ 
ing  my  administration  as  comptroller, 
and  I  am  glad  to  see  that  my  succes¬ 
sor  in  office  is  continuing  the  work 
which  began  under  me.  Every  city 
in  America  should  have  the  benefit  of 
the  work  which  is  now  being  effect¬ 
ively  carried  on,  and  New  York 
should  have  the  benefit  of  the  exper¬ 
ience  of  your  city  and  of  other  cities. 

“City  comptrollers,  as  you  know, 
continually  receive  letters  of  inquiry, 
requesting  just  the  kind  of  informa¬ 
tion  which  I  have  in  mind  to  acquire 
and  circulate  through  such  an  agency. 
Only  to-day  I  received,  through  my 
New  York  office,  an  inquiry  from  the 
deputy  comptroller  of  Milwaukee 
asking  for  information  as  to  the 
changes  made  in  New  York  methods 
and  as  to  what  legislation,  if  any,  had 
been  necessary  to  bring  about  the  im¬ 
provements.  To-day  it  is  nobody’s 
business,  and  nobody  has  either  the 
funds  or  organization,  to  give  the 
kind  of  answer  that  ought  to  be  given 
when  one  comptroller  writes  to  an¬ 
other  comptroller  for  information. 

“I  might  cite  a  personal  experience 
which  illustrates  the  difficulty  which 
I  have  in  mind:  An  inquiry  recently 
made  by  the  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research  for  Comptroller  Prendergast 
showed  that  my  own  records  of  what 


the  bookkeepers  were  doing  in  my 
personal  business  establishment,  and 
the  records  of  what  the  bookkeepers 
in  the  comptroller’s  office  were  doing, 
were  widely  divergent;  that  bookkeep¬ 
ers  were  doing  five  times  as  much 
work  for  me  every  day  as  an  employer 
as  they  did  for  me  as  comptroller  and 
did  not  complain  of  being  over-worked 
at  that.  As  every  business  man  knows, 
the  quantity  of  work  performed  by 
his  employees  is  largely  determined 
by  the  methods  and  conditions  under 
which  their  work  is  done.  The  point 
is,  that  the  only  way  to  correct  such 
discrepancies  is  to  provide  cities  with 
businesslike  methods  of  accounting 
and  reporting  that  will  keep  the  facts 
before  the  officers  and  the  people  who 
elect  them,  and  do  it  by  up-to-date 
and  easily  understood  balance  sheets 
and  statements. 

“I  expect  to  be  back  in  New  York 
during  the  latter  part  of  August,  and 
I  am  arranging  to  have  responses  to 
letters  sent  by  me  to  a  number  of 
comptrollers  with  regard  to  this 
matter,  forwarded  to  me,  so  that  I 
may  be  able  to  know  how  they  regard 
the  plan,  and  proceed  accordingly  on 
my  return. 

“I  shall  be  very  glad  if  you  could 
spare  the  time  at  an  early  date  to 
tell  me  candidly  how  you  think  this 
fund  can  be  made  of  greatest  service.” 


For  additional  copies  address 
Efficient  Citizenship  No.  371 

Bureau  of  Municipal  Research, 
261  Broadway 


